Craiglist Musical Uses Ads For Lyrics

Some of the weird and wonderful ads found on Craigslist have been turned into a musical, which will premier at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver, Canada. From January 19th to February 11th, Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata will be shown to audiences. Written by CBC broadcaster Bill Richardson and singer/songwriter Veda Hille, the musical is largely made up of lyrics taken verbatim from ads found on the site.

It first debuted as a 20-minute production at Club PuSh in 2009 and is now returning as a full-fledged 80-minute version, with quick-witted songs and a loose story arc. Some of the topics in the musical include irregular hats for cats, mounted lobsters, autographed copies of the Bible, stuffed penguins and decapitated dolls. It explores what humanity has to offer in the age of social networking, showcasing human emotions like longing and affection embedded in the online ads. As Bill Richardson explains:

What comes through in these ads so often is just this bald longing and tenderness. It’s a kind of searching. People are looking for something. It turns out that it’s a piece about hunger, as much as anything else.

PuSh